Midnight Mass at Bistro Europa

If you follow Alli or I on twitter you may have noticed some chatter about Midnight Mass and ramen. Last Saturday we walked into Bistro Europa around midnight to a the restaurant packed with some dedicated foodies and restaurant folk who were all dying for a good bowl of ramen. It marked Chef Steve and Ellen Gedra’s first Midnight Mass event, a pop-up dinner held late at night on Saturday’s after the normal dinner service ends. At the moment it doesn’t seem like there are set rules for the event or any type of schedule, but it’s definitely not as secretive as Omakase. This particular dinner was all about ramen featuring everyone’s favorite T-Meadow Pork. As an added bonus, Chef James Roberts was in the kitchen to help. It was announced online and within a couple days it was sold out, luckily we made our reservation within the first couple of hours and grabbed two seats.

Not only do Alli and I love a good bowl of ramen but we had just eaten at Ippudo in NYC weeks before and were dying to have good bowl in Buffalo. Due to a last minute cancellation (sorry Ken!), I was able to get my buddy Paul from Brick-N-Motor a spot at the dinner. Overall, it was a great night.

The bowl had a nice mound of homemade noodles that had the perfect bite, pork shoulder that was tender and filled with flavor (as T-meadow pork always is), bok choy, a soy sauce sous vide egg that was heavenly and an impressive homemade fish cake that tasted like no fish cake I’ve ever had. The broth had a strong pork flavor, I just wish I could have had about a liter more of the stuff.

It was a fun kick-off to the Midnight Mass series from Bistro Europa, and I’m looking forward to seeing the crazy things Steve and his staff have planned. For future updates on more events (rumor is another one is coming next month), I’d recommend you friend/follow them on facebook and keep an eye on their Events Page. Their Snout-To-Tail Event was announced for Sunday May 19th. Guest chefs Bruce Wieszala and Carmelo Raimondi will be help prepare a meal featuring an entire T-Meadow hog over 9 courses. If you love pork, want to support an amazing local farm and really want to experience an awesome meal from three of the best chefs in WNY, I highly suggest you look into attending this dinner.